Abstract :
Norway has always been a nation of fishermen, not traders, farmers, or burghers: the Gulf Stream, ice-free ports and the call of the sea made physical exploration more appealing. The country had the most intrepid Vikings and polar explorers, but no scientific geniuses, no Niels Bohrs (Danish) or Alfred Nobels (Swedish). The communities were tiny, roads were poor: there was a small urban middle class and no aristocracy ?? the class that could afford to pay for laboratories. The aristocrats were all in Denmark.
